runels



(No Model.)

C. RUNELS.

ELECTRIC GOUPLING.

Patented Aug. 9, 1887.`

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UNITED STATES 'PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES RUN ELS, OF LOWELL, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOROF TVO-THIRDS TOHENRY RUNELS AND GEORGE W1 RAND, BOTH OF SAME PLACE.

ELECTRIC COUPLING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 367,931, dated August9, 1887.

Application filedMarch 31, 1886. Serial No. 197,282. (No model.) n

T @ZZ wtom, it may concern: o v Be it known that I, CHARLEs RUNELs, acitiaen of the United States, residing at Lowell,in inthe county ofMiddlesex and Commonwealth of Massachusetts, haveinvented a certain newand useful Improvement in Electric Couplings,

of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to electric couplings or connectors especiallyadapted to connect sepio arable sections of conductors, in a closedcir-y cuit and to enable said sections to be connected and disconnectedwithout breaking the circuit, the principal use of said couplings beingto unite the electrical conductors employed upon railway-trains, tooperate station-indicators, or to signal from one'car to another or tothe engine, and from the engine to any One of the cars of the sametrain.

The coupling hereinafter described iscapa- 2o ble of connectingsectional conductors in open or closed circuits, and to unite the partsof sectional conductors of two or more circuits, some of which areclosed and some of which are open.

In the accompanying drawings, Figures 1 and 2 are side elevations of acoupling construeted in accordance with myinvention, the coupling beingrepresented in Fig. 2 as turned on its axis ninety degrees from theposition it 3o occupies in Fig. l; Fig. 3, a vertical central section ofthe coupling entire on the line x .r in Fig. 2; Fig. 4, a centralvertical section of o ne of the counterparts of the coupling on the linex x in Fig. 2; Fig. 5, a section on the line y y in Fig. 6; Fig. 6, aplan of that end of veither counterpart 0f the coupling which is incontact with the otherV counterpart of the coupling when saidcounterparts are coupled or united; Fig. 7, a plan of the locking-plate,4o showing the inner face thereof; Fig. 8, afvertical section of saidplate on the line y y in Fig. 7. I

The coupling C consists of two counterparts, ce', which are preciselyalike in all respects, and the description of one applies to the other.The body B of each counterpart is of any suitable.insulating material,as vulcanite. Through the body B extends vone or more metallic strips, bb2 b3, (threebein g shown,) 5o these strips being insulated from eachother, and the outer ends of said strips being each connectedwith aseparate wire or electrical conductor, rw 102 w3. Each of the counterparts is provided with as many spring-plates d d2 d3 as there are stripsb b2 b3, and these 55 spring-plates are insulated from each other andfrom said strips, and their outer ends are connected with conductors orwires v o2 c3, which, with the wires w 'L02 w3, form complete metalliccircuits through said strips, spring 6o plates, and metallic pins e e2e, each ot' which pins is in contact with one of said strips andprojects toward one of said 4spring-plates, and is in contact therewithwhen the counterparts of the couplingare disun-ited..

The means of connecting the conductors w wz w3 to' the strips b b2 b3and the ,conductors'v v2 c3 to the spring-plates d d? d3 is shown inFigs. 3 and 4, each conductor being provided near its end with a collaror shoulder, s" s si, and being tapered from said collar to its end, thetapering end of each conductor being iuserted in atapering opening inone of said strips bJ b3 or spring-plates d d2 (Z3, as the case maybe,and being retained therein by 75 the locking-plate P, (shown in Figs. 7and 8,) said locking plate being of insulating material, as vulcanite,and having as many openings p as there are conductors, and theseopenings p being tapering and being pressed down over the shoulders onthe conductors,"as shown in Figs. 3 and 4, by an internal flange, e, inthe case E, crowding the tapering points of the conductors into theirseats. The case E is preferably cylindrical, as shown,and is preferablymetallic,and incloses and protects from injury'the insulating material,Astrips, spring plates andlocking-plates, and,not necessarily, but forconvenience,is provided with removable ends or caps e, these caps beingscrewthreaded internally at e5 to engage a coiresponding screwthread, e,on the outside of said case, the flanges above named being on the insideof the caps ef. This construction allows the locking-plates l? to bereadily removcdand replaced, and enables a sufiicient pressure to beexerted on said plate P to force the points of the conductors into theirseats in the conducting-strips and spiingplates, the wires and theirinsulating-covering fitting the roo orifices in the ends of the caps eso loosely as to allow the caps to be turned without tu rning ortwisting said wires or their coverings. For

convenience, also, theloeking-plate P is made in three parts, p/ paps,as shown in Fig. 7, be-

ing twice divided through the centers of all the holes p on each side ofthe center of said plate l), to allow all or some of the conductingwiresto be easily removed or inserted, one dividing-line, y y, passingthrough the holes p, which receive the conductors ww? in, and the otherdividing-line, s s, passing through the holes which receive theconductors o el n,

rlhe inner ends of the counterparts of the coupling are halved together,as shown in Figs. l and 2, atc'l--that is to to say, the coupling isdivided into two equal parts by two planes, cZ c, at right angles to itsaxis,and bya third plane, c", passing through said axis at right anglesto said first-named planes. The inner ends or ends of the strips andspringplates nearest the middle of the coupling are bent or beveledtoward the axial dividingplane cl of the coupling, so that when theparts of the coupling are united, as shown in Figs. l, 2, and 3, thestrips of each counterpart pass between the axis of the coupling and thefree ends of the spring-plates, making an electrical contact betweeneach strip of each counterpart and the corresponding springplate of theother counterpart, and making this contact before the strips of eachcounterpart force the spring-plates of the other counterpart out oi'contact with the pins which connect said strips and spring-plates in thesame counterpart when the counterparts are disunited, as abovedescribed.

The counterparts of the coupling or couplings, where several are used tounite the sections of sectional conductors, should all be wiredalike-that is, the spri iig-plates in every counterpart should beconnected to the same pole oi' the battery (or batteries, if a batteryis used on more than one section of the conductors) and thecomlucting-strips to the other pole of the same.

The counterparts of the coupling are held together by a spring-latch, L,secured to each counterpart and hooking over a projection, Z, on theother counterpart, the spring-latches being guided by longitudinal ribsZ, arranged on the counterparts, respectively; and said counterparts maybe readily drawn apart endwiseafter lifting the spring-latches L out ofengagement with the projections Z.

For convenience of illustration, suppose that lines w e iorm atelephonie circuit, that lines zo o form, with suitable instruments, anelectric-lighting circuit, that lines wie form a signal-circuit orstation-indicating circuit, and that the coupling be used to unitesections of these circuits upon engines and cars of a railway-train. Il"a single car is used, the circuits will be completed through acounterpart of theeoupling at the rear of the train; but if two ears areused and the counterparts of the coupling (one counterpart being carriedby one ear and the other by the other car) are united, as shown in thefirst three figures, the

lines will then be complete through the wires w 10210 in one directionand by the returnwires o/ egel-only one of the counterparts in any casebeing` used at the end of the train, the wires out and the return-wiresbeing connected in this case through the strips, pins, and spring-platesof the same colmterpart, as above described.

lt will be seen that if the dividing-plane c1 be continued through thecoupling, cach counterpart will consist of two unlike halves, and thateach half oi' each counterpart will be precisely like one of thehalvesofthe other counterpart, and that the counterparts when coupled havetheir longitudinal axes in the same straight line, and that, whenproperly connected, as above described, they are capable of connectinglike sectional conductors, and that when uneoupled cach counterpart iscapable of automatically continuing the electric connection of eachsection of the conduetors.

By the use ofthe coupling above described several complete independentcircuits, each containing its own generator, may be united so as to beworked simultaneously without interfering with the working of any ofthem.

I claim as my invention-- l. An electric coupling consisting of two likecounterparts, each provided with one or more conducting-strips and withone or more conducting spring-plates, each strip of cach counterpartmaking connection with a corresponding spring-plate of the othercounterpart when said counterparts are coupled, as and for the purposespecified.

2. The coupling herein described, consisting of two counterparts, eachprovided with a conducting-strip having its inner end bent or beveledtoward the middle of the coupling and with a conducting spring-plate,said strip being provided with a conducting-pin or contact-point,against which said spring plate rests when said counterparts aredisunited, said spring-plate being adapted to be forced out of contactwith said contact-point by the bent or beveled inner end of theconductingstrip of the other of said counterparts upon the uniting ofsaid counterparts, the strip of each counterpart making connection withthe spring-plate olf the other counterpart, as and for the purposespecified..

3. the electrical coupling herein described, consisting of twocounterparts, substantially as described, and each provided with one ormore conducting-strips having thei r inner ends bent or beveled towardthe middle ofthe coupling and insulated from each other and with acorresponding number of conducting springplates insulated from eachother, each of said strips being provided with a conducting-pin orcontact-point, against which one of said spring-plates rests when saidcounterparts are disunited, but otherwise insulated from saidspring-plates, said spring-plates beingadapted to be forced out ofcontact with said contactpoints by the adjacent beveled inner ends ofIOO the strips of the other counterpart on the uniting of saidcounterparts, as and for the pur-4 with holes to receive saidconductors, a casev surrounding said spring-plates and conducting-stripsand provided with an external screwthread, anda cap having an internalscrewthread to engage the screw-thread on said oase to press saidlocking-plate against said collar and to crowd said ends of saidconductors into the holes-in said spring-plates and strips, as and forthe purpose specified.

5. The combination of the conducting strips and the conductors providednear their ends with collars, a locking-plate of insulating materialprovided with holes to receive said collars and conductors, the holesin'said lockingplate tapering away fromV theends of said oonductors andbeing smaller at their smaller ends than said collars, a casesurrounding said strips and provided with an external screwthread, and acap provided with an internal screwthread adapted to engage thescrewthread on said case and to press said lockingplate toward saidstrips, thereby bringing said ends of said conductors in contact withsaid strips, as and for the purpose specified.

6. The combination of the conducting-strips and the conductors providednear their ends with collars, a locking-.plate of insulating materialprovided with tapering holes to receive said conductors and saidcollars, .and divided through the middle of said holes into sections,the case containing said strips and provided with an externalscrew-thread, and a cap pro- .vided with an internal screw-thread toengage said thread on said case and provided with an internal iiangeadapted, when said cap is screwed upon said case, to press upon saidlocking-plate and to force the ends of said conductors against saidstrips, as and for the purpose specified.

CHARLES RUNELS.

Ti tnesses:

ALBERT M. MooRE, GERTRUDE M. DAY.

